* Teachers are the most important influence in a child’s education.* Merit pay is a good way to increase the performance of teachers.* Subject matter knowledge is the most important asset a teacher can possess.* Teachers are well paid.* Subject matter is the most important asset a teacher can possess.

You have also no doubt heard that teachers have it easy because they have summers off, and can go home in mid-afternoon when their students leave, and that they can get tenure and therefore are protected from ever being fired.

Myths, all of them. And here’s some new ones, offered by Alice Trosclair, who has been teaching for nine years in south Louisiana. She currently teaches American literature, English Language and Composition (AP), and English Literature and Composition (AP). She lives with her husband and son, and has what she calls hundreds of “adopted” children — her students. A version of this was first published in The Educator’s Room, and I am republishing it with permission.

By Alice Trosclair

“Stop being such a martyr.”

“All these teachers do is whine about how bad they have it.”

“It is your choice to put so many hours in. No one is forcing you to do all this.”

And my favorite, “You knew what you were getting into.”

Whether you want to admit it, society as we know it would fall apart without teachers. This a response to some of the comments that have been made on articles I have written or that I have heard over the past year.

*Stop being such a martyr.

I don’t consider myself a martyr, but I would die for my students, and I know any educator would. Some have. I would throw myself in front of my kids to protect them from a bullet or tornado. I think that entitles society to at least listen to what educators have to say. Someone who is willing to risk their lives for child deserves to be heard.